Importance of Academic Integrity in Higher Education

This report discusses the importance of academic integrity in higher education, its implications, and how to promote it. It also reflects on the skills learned in producing a game for Assignment 2. The report emphasizes the values of academic integrity, the consequences of academic misconduct, and the skills required for effective teamwork and time management.

BSc (Hons) Business Management with
Foundation
BMP3003
Further Academic Skills
Academic Integrity
Submitted by:
Name:
ID:

Contents
Introduction 1
Section 1
An Introduction including a description of Academic Integrity
1
A discussion of the importance of academic integrity in higher
education 2
Discuss the implications of academic misconduct 3
Section 2
Reflect on the steps you have taken, and difficulties encountered in
producing the game for Assignment 2 4
Reflect on the skills you have learned this academic year and those
emphasized in producing your game 5
Conclusion 6
References 7

Introduction
Academic integrity refers to the honesty that the student shows while doing
their coursework. It reflects the ethics and knowledge of the student. The student
must make sure that the assignment which they are submitting are not copied by
them from someone else's work but if student requires some support in order to
complete the project then they must give proper credit to the original writer or
information source (Lantsoght., 2018). The support can be taken from journals,
books, articles, etc. but the student must properly state the source of their
information so that their work does not fall into the category of plagiarism. The
student may have to face severe consequences for plagiarism and will also have to
address allegations of misconduct.
Section 1
An Introduction including a description of Academic Integrity
There are five fundamental values of academic integrity which are trust,
honesty, respect, fairness and responsibility. Every organisation and education
institution expects that their employees and students are demonstrating these
values. Academic integrity is about producing and submitting the work with utmost
honesty and fairness and providing proper sources and citation of the support used
by them (Chen., 2019). Providing proper citations is a way of showing ethics and
respecting the work of other. Academic integrity promotes fairness in the education
systems and will also make sure that the degree that the education institution is
providing to the students is true and authentic. Their are some ways in which
students can show academic integrity in their work which are given below:
 Submit the work that is done by the individual without any copy paste.
 Provide proper citations for the support taken in order to complete the project
 Following each and every step of the assignment carefully
 Submitted documents must be true and fair
 Promote academic integrity
By promoting academic integrity the student is promoting healthy competition and is
also providing information and fulfilling the roles and responsibilities of a student
while submitting their assessment. If a student is not following academic integrity

then it may have a negative impact on his or her grade and also it will harm the
reputation of the student.
A discussion of the importance of academic integrity in higher
education
In a students life, it is utmost important for the student to make sure that they
are following all the rules and regulations properly, no matter whether they are in
school or in university (Zhablyanova and et. al., 2018). Academic integrity not only
enhances their knowledge but will also make sure that the students are honest
towards their work. Importance of academic integrity is given below:
 Promotes fairness and honesty: It is important for the student to promote
fairness in the process as it will help them in having a healthy work
environment and will also make sure that they are getting grades according to
the work they have done. It will help them in analyzing their actual strength
and weakness which is one of the most important part of a students life. The
student can further enhance their strengths and can also work hard on their
weakness so that they do not lack in any segment.
 Enhances reputation: Academic integrity plays a major role in enhancing the
reputation of the student as well as of the institution which is promoting
academic integrity (Pooler., 2019). Reputation will help the student in building
high credibility and will also help the student in gaining trust of the teachers as
well as of the mentors.
 Helps in building trust: Trust is one of the most important thing when it
comes to ethics. Trust can only be build with time and handwork. If a student
is true and fair towards the work that they are doing, they will definitely be
able to have trust of their teachers. Trust will also make sure that the student
is having motivation while doing their assignment as the student know the
expectations that institution have from them.
 Promotes healthy competition: If the institution is promoting academic
misconduct then they will not be able to have a healthy environment and work
culture within the institution. In order to promote healthy competition it is
important for the institution to be fair towards each and every students and
make sure that they are not biased (Robinson and Young., 2019). It is

important for the organisation to encourage students and provide them proper
knowledge about academic integrity and its importance.
Discuss the implications of academic misconduct
Academic misconduct refers to the actions of a student towards attaining
unfair academic advantage. Academic misconduct includes plagiarism, contract
cheating, collusion, fabrication of data, etc. Academic misconduct will lead the
student towards severe consequences and strict punishments. It is important for the
students to make sure that they are showing utmost honesty in their work and are
providing proper citations for the source used by them. It will help them in avoiding
any penalties and will also save them from severe punishments. Some of the major
implication that can be faced by the student because of academic misconduct is
given below:
 Loss of reputation and credibility: One of the major consequence that can
be faced by the student for doing academic misconduct is loss of reputation
and credibility of their work (Vasconcelos and Balula., 2019). Reputation
cannot be purchased in exchange of money and a student can build their
reputation only with the help of their hard work and commitment towards their
work. It is important for students to make sure that they are not doing any
misconduct which can affect or have an impact on their reputation.
 Legal consequences: In some cases the students may have to face legal
consequences if they are guilty of plagiarism or academic misconduct. It is
important for the student to make sure that that they are not facing any legal
consequences as it will have a major impact on the career and future of an
individual. Legal charges are extremely bad for the future of student and
includes separate legal punishment and penalties which are needed to be
faced by the student.
 Impact on self esteem or lack of confidence: As academic misconduct
involves loss of self esteem in the long run. It is important for the student to
attempt their assignment on their own as it will develop self confidence. Self
confidence is one of the most important behavioural aspect for a student as it
not only help the student in their assignment but will also help in their future
career path (Andon, Dewey and Leung., 2018). The student can copy paste

their assignment now but in the future when they have to make real
assignments in their professional career, at that point of time they will not be
able to do it on their own and will also not be able to take support from any
sources.
Section 2
Reflect on the steps you have taken, and difficulties encountered in
producing the game for Assignment 2
One of the most important aspect of team work is finding the right team. In
order to produce effective game, the first and foremost requirement was to find a
team which can support the idea and can understand the motive behind the game
activity. It has been observed that most of the start-ups fails due to lack efforts in
finding right team. It is important for us to make sure that we are having the right
talent in are team which can help us in making the game that we want.
After finding the correct team, another factor which was needed to be
considered by us was to make sure that we are collecting ideas from everyone so
that we can have a bunch of ideas from which we can choose. Another difficulty
faced by us in that activity was to match the ideas with the thought process of each
and every member (Xuereb., 2020). Their was a major issue while selecting the idea
as some members were in favour of one idea and the others were in favour of some
other idea. In order to match the perspectives of members we made sure that we
correctly analyse all the pros and cons of those ideas and then decide which one will
be best for us.
Another difficulty was to assign task. It was utmost important to make sure
that we are assigning tasks on the basis of strengths of individual so that they can
give their best in the task provided to them. It is important for us to make sure that
everyone is gaining some knowledge while doing the group assignment and are also
enhancing their learning skills.
Group tasks is all about coordination in between the team member and when
there is a team there are high chances of conflicts in between them(Sanders
Jolivette and Harris., 2020). We never ignored any conflict and always made sure
that conflicts are resolved as soon as possible and in the best manner possible.

While deciding the theme of the game we find it very difficult as their were
large amount of creative and fabulous themes to choose from and after a discussing
it properly we came to a conclusion. We made sure that we are looking towards all
the advantages and disadvantages while deciding on a theme.
Reflect on the skills you have learned this academic year and those
emphasized in producing your game
We get to learn so many new skills which actually benefited us. Some of the
skills are given below:
 Creativity skills: It is one of the most important skill that is needed to be
obtained by the individual in order to develop a game. Creativity helps the
individual in involving innovation in the game plan and will also make sure that
the members are getting new ideas which can help them in making the game
fun as well as logical. Creativity helps in building a nice base for the game and
will also help in making the workings effective and efficient in the best
possible manner.
 Learning skills: It refers to the skills which is extremely important not only in
the lives of students but for each and every individual irrespective of the
gender, age or education level. It is important for an individual to learn new
things and to improve their knowledge as and when they get opportunity
(Macfadyen and et. al., 2020). It is important for an individual to enhance their
knowledge and understanding about different things which can enhance their
personality and will also improve their self confidence.
 Team work skills: As we were working in teams it is the utmost important
skill and it has helped me in managing my team effectively and efficiently. If
we did not have managed the team properly then the goal and objectives of
the game or task will not have fulfilled. In order to become effective and
efficient, it is important for us to make sure that we are seeking for
advantages of each and every team member.
 Time management skills: It order to complete the task on time and without
any delay, it is important for us to improve our time management skills. It will
help us in completing our individual tasks on time and will also make sure that
we are not facing any penalty for late submission. Late submission of work will

also have a negative impact on the reputation of the group. In order to save
ourselves from penalties we made sure that we are providing appropriate time
to each and every task and tried to complete it according to the deadlines so
that we can avoid any last minute hassle. Time management provides extra
time in which we can improve our project and will also make sure that we are
working according to our time table.
Conclusion
From the above report it is concluded that, academic integrity is one of the
most important activity that helps the student in providing or submitting their
assignments with utmost honesty and without taking any unfair academic advantage.
Academic integrity will make sure that the student is true towards their work and that
they are working ethically so that they do not have to face any legal issue afterwards.
Consequences of academic misconduct can be very harmful for the future career
aspects of the student. It is important for the students to make sure that they are
working according to the rules and regulations provided by their institutions.

References
Lantsoght, E.O., 2018. Honing your academic writing skills. In The AZ of the PhD
Trajectory (pp. 109-136). Springer, Cham.
Chen, H.M., 2019. Information visualization skills for academic librarians: A content
analysis of publications and online LibGuides in the digital humanities.
Library Hi Tech.
Zhablyanova and et. al., 2018. Academic research project for formation and
development of skills and competences in the use of information resources.
In ICERI2018 Proceedings (pp. 969-973). IATED.
Pooler, J.L., 2019. A Qualitative Case Study Investigating Teacher Perceptions on
the Challenges of Students Lacking Kindergarten Readiness Skills in an
Urban School District in Ohio (Doctoral dissertation, Northcentral University).
Robinson, D.B. and Young, D., 2019. The Relationship Between Teachers’
Inclusion-Related Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes and Student Outcomes: A
Review of Recent Literature. Exceptionality Education International, 29(2).
Vasconcelos, S.V. and Balula, A., 2019. Teaching English to Marketing Students:
Bridging the Gap Between Academic and Real-World Skills. In Evaluating
the Gaps and Intersections Between Marketing Education and the Marketing
Profession (pp. 162-183). IGI Global.
Andon, N., Dewey, M. and Leung, C., 2018. Tasks in the pedagogic space: Using
online discussion forum tasks and formative feedback to develop academic
discourse skills at Master's level. In Task-Based Language Teaching (pp.
235-261). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Xuereb, L., 2020. The use of a tablet application to develop the social interaction
skills of children with intellectual disabilities (Bachelor's thesis, University of
Malta).
Sanders, S., Jolivette, K. and Harris, C., 2020. Improving the Reading
Comprehension Skills of Systems‐Involved Youth: A Preliminary
Investigation of an Underserved Population. Learning Disabilities Research
& Practice.
Macfadyen and et. al., 2020. Articulating and developing supervisory skills through
collaborative action research. International Journal for Academic
Development, 25(4), pp.324-336.